Part-financed by the European Union

(European Regional Development Fund)

INIS - Intermodal Node Information System for the

Rail Baltica Growth Corridor (RBGC)

Winter, Mareen 1)

, Heiland, Martin 2)

Kämmerer, Grit

3)

1) IPG Infrastruktur- und Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, Potsdam, until 12 / 2011

2) IPG Infrastruktur- und Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, Potsdam, heiland@ipg-potsdam.de

2) IPG Infrastruktur- und Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, Potsdam, kaemmerer@ipg-

potsdam.de

Abstract

The transport within the Rail Baltica corridor is dominated by truck. By using an information system

shifting of freight transport from road to rail can be supported. The Ministry of Infrastructure and

Agriculture Brandenburg (MIL) in Germany published an internet portal enabling a search for

transshipment points in Brandenburg, developed by IPG. The so-called internet based “Intermodal

Node Information System – INIS” offers users in economy, politics and administration a

comprehensive overview of the access to the railway system via transshipment points. Within the EU-

Project “Rail Baltica Growth Corridor” the existing intermodal node information system is going to be

extended to the area of Rail Baltica in Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.

Keywords

Rail Baltica; Intermodal transport; Rail Siding; Transshipment Terminal; Ludwigsfelde; Grossbeeren

Remark: Will be published in: “European Corridor Projects –

Trends, Strategies and Practices in freight transport and

logistics”, 2012.

Publisher: Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau

Part-financed by the European Union

(European Regional Development Fund)

Introduction

Traffic from the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) is mainly coming on the road to Germany.

The number of trucks grows from Finland in direction to Germany. In 2008 more than 2 million trucks

transported goods between Germany and Poland (EuroStat 2008). Figure 1 shows the good traffic by

road between Germany and Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

An alternative is given by rail transport. Reasons why the truck is preferred are the lower price and

the flexibility. Furthermore the border crossing restrains the rail traffic, because of a higher

organizational effort and interoperability problems, e.g. different gauges. In Germany and Poland the

European gauge system is used, while in the Baltic States and Finland the Russian gauge is utilized.

That means that wagons, the transport unit, axles or bogies have to be changed at the Polish-

Lithuanian border. Nevertheless the Rail Baltica region has crowded roads and free railway

capacities. With support of the European project “Rail Baltica Growth Corridor” (RBGC) the

accessibility within this region shall be improved. In addition an instrument to support the shifting of

freight transport from road to rail will be developed.

Figure 1: Number of trucks between Germany and related countries (IPG based on EuroState

2008)

Part-financed by the European Union

(European Regional Development Fund)

1 Existing INIS

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Agriculture Brandenburg (MIL) published an internet portal as

instrument enabling to search for transshipment points in Brandenburg, developed by IPG. The

system is called “INIS - Intermodal Node Information System” and “Güterverkehrsstellen-

Informationssystem” in German. In 2007 it was developed as database that is available as internet

portal. It was updated in 2008/09 and in 2011 an update has been made again.

At the moment it includes information about the five public terminals for intermodal transport in

Brandenburg and about 278 main- and branch rail sidings (= transshipment points), whereof 216 are

operated. INIS will be basis for the development within RBGC. The system is available at

http://www.gleisanschluss-brandenburg.de, the next parts give an overview of the existing tool

functions.

The internet based intermodal node information system offers users in economy, politics and

administration a comprehensive overview of the access to the railway system via transshipment

points in Brandenburg. Important goals of the system are:

• Strengthening of rail freight traffic

• Presentation of access points to the railway system and

• Provision of detailed information for the individual transshipment points

• Marketing instrument for regions

Part-financed by the European Union

(European Regional Development Fund)

Figure 2: Welcome Homepage of INIS

Part-financed by the European Union

(European Regional Development Fund)

While using INIS you can find the main operating companies for each operational transshipment

point in Brandenburg. The user gets infrastructure information about all “active” sides but also about

the non-operational transshipment points. The reason is that the included non-operational

transshipment points can be reactivated quickly and so the chance of an economic operation is

increased and the risk of deconstruction can be reduced. The map supports the user to search for

certain transshipment points.

1.1 Maps

The system is supported by maps. Since December 2011 the “Brandenburg Viewer” is included in the

system. An overview map of Brandenburg shows all freight villages, container terminals, ports,

railway lines, motorways and inland waterways. Topographical maps, orthophotos but also

additional themes like information about districts / cadastral parcels or local subdistricts are

provided with a zoom function up to a scale of 1:1.500 and furthermore an ongoing updating.

Figure 3: Brandenburg-Viewer included in the INIS-System

Part-financed by the European Union

(European Regional Development Fund)

1.2 Details of transshipment points

A detailed fact sheet is provided to every transshipment point. It shows spatial information, like

name of the region, the next railway station and name of the track. Technical information relevant

for the carrier like axle load, traction and length of tracks are listed. Furthermore information is given

about the handling of block trains, single wagons and/or container transshipment is provided.

Specific services of the railway siding, e.g. loading tracks / platforms, marshalling, lightening are

further listed. Through the status the user finds out if the transshipment point is in operation or

currently not operated. Furthermore a link to a map, to the operator and the regional administration

is included. A full English version is currently worked out.

Figure 4: Details of a transshipment point

Part-financed by the European Union

(European Regional Development Fund)

1.3 Query form

The query form gives the user the possibility to search for certain transshipment points. It is possible

to search with following parameters:

- Location / region

- Name of the railway siding

- Required profile: traction, allowed axle load, operation of full trans, single wagons,

container transshipment, services

Figure 5: Query form

Part-financed by the European Union

(European Regional Development Fund)

2 Prospective INIS

2.1 European project Rail Baltica Growth Corridor (RBGC)

Rail Baltica Growth Corridor (RBGC) aims to improve the competitiveness and accessibility of cities

and regions in the Eastern Baltic Sea Region through increased interaction and cooperation. RBGC is

an INTERREG IV B project of the European Union with a total budget of 3.6 MEUR. It runs 36 month

from 09/2010 till 09/2013 with the City of Helsinki as Lead Partner. Within this project 21 partners

from Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland are working together on the

modernisation and revitalisation of the railway transport between Berlin – Poznan – Warsaw –

Kaunas – Riga – Tallinn – Helsinki.

RBGC conduct a Logistics Pilot under guidance of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University. It strives to

improve interoperability and cooperation of the logistics centers along Rail Baltica in order to

increase its competitiveness from the viewpoint of global freight flows. The city of Ludwigsfelde,

which is directly involved in the project as a project partner, works also actively at the Logistics Pilot.

Ludwigsfelde is an established industrial and business location in the South of Berlin close to the

Freight village Berlin South Grossbeeren, which occurs as associated partner in RBGC. The previously

presented INIS-system shall be the basis of the logistics pilot. The idea is to develop the today’s

content further on and to strengthen the function as marketing instrument including e.g. the

presentation of the logistics centres by fact sheets. INIS is developed by IPG Infrastruktur- und

Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH that supports the city of Ludwigsfelde with their investigations

in RBGC.

2.2 Development

Idea is to extend the existing INIS in the corridor. As first step the “marketing homepage-market” of

logistics centres will be evaluated in each involved country to avoid the doubling of similar systems.

For each country of RGBC INIS shall be developed, if there is not a comparable system – if systems

are already available a cooperation and connection of the homepages is planned. The most

important transshipment points and logistics centres along Rail Baltica have to be identified. In the

next step a questionnaire will be developed and the data relevant for INIS will be evaluated. The

information will be saved in an English database and published at one homepage also available in

English. Other languages of the involved partner countries are discussed. The transshipment points

and logistics centres will be displayed in maps or regional systems to support the clearness.

On behalf of the MIL the system of Brandenburg is getting updated currently and parallel in project-

context of RBGC details of the development of the international INIS are analyzed. Besides the

extension to Rail Baltica region the enlargement to Berlin and the other German federal states are

planned, too. Furthermore the waterways and ports of Brandenburg will also be added.

Part-financed by the European Union

(European Regional Development Fund)

2.3 Opportunities

As an example of INIS a Polish logistics service supplier can search for multimodal terminals to

transport goods from Germany to Finland. With the INIS tool information about transshipment points

located in Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland are available for partners and

stakeholders worldwide. Connected to the information about the transshipment points are

information about the logistics and / or industrial surrounding business area. Existing transport

infrastructures, settled companies (e.g. logistics services) but also information regarding available

sites (sizes, media connection, financial support, restrictions) and contact data will be presented. Aim

is to increase the transparency of the logistics centre market in the corridor and their global

economic strengthening and finally also to shift freight from road to rail. The existing rail traffic can

be stabilised and existing side tracks can be saved and utilised. As consequence operators can

possibly motivate to present costumer-friendly offer.

Figure 6: Connection of the prospective INIS

Part-financed by the European Union

(European Regional Development Fund)

Bibliography

Eurostat (2008). “Annual border crossing road traffic”, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu